The major goal of this training program, which entered its 25th year in May 2008, is to interest young investigators in a career in biomedical research pertaining to dermatology and its diseases, and to provide them the training to be successful in that career. This training program is designed to provide short term (2-3 months) and long term (1 year or more) research training for medical students, as well as supporting the research training of Ph.D. and M.D. Ph.D. thesis students, and M.D., Ph.D. or M.D. Ph.D. postdoctoral fellows in the basic science of cutaneous biology or in clinical epidemiology. Short and long term research experiences for medical students are designed to interest them in an eventual career in dermatology research. Research training for thesis students and postdoctoral fellows is geared towards developing the careers of investigators with growing or established interests in cutaneous biology research. Our general goal is to train dermatologists, Ph.D. cutaneous biologists, and medical students to approach problems in dermatology and cutaneous biology logically, scientifically and rigorously. Another important aim is to impart our enthusiasm for the study of skin as a fascinating, accessible and incredibly productive model system to address many issues in basic molecular, cell and developmental biology, stem cell biology, regeneration, and pathophysiology and epidemiology of disease. Finally we help find suitable positions for trainees in academics, industry, or for further training in clinical or research areas. A particular emphasis of our training program is to encourage and train physician scientists in Dermatology. To this end, in addition to training medical students and MD PhD students in skin biology research, we recently established a four-year clinical/research dermatology residency program in which trainees pursue postdoctoral research fellowships leading to careers as physician scientists. This program has already been extremely successful, attracting exceptionally qualified, enthusiastic trainees, the first of whom is now established as an NIH-funded independent physician-scientist.